Story Time
by FriedCuccoLady
Summary: After his return from Termina, Link finds his home village threatened, because of what happened in the past. Will he save the Kokiri from the vicious thieves or will he end up dying himself? Read about the events that led to what you can find in Twilight Princess. Oneshot based on the legend of the Hero of Time in HylianHarmony's fanfic "The Alternate Link"


**Hello all and none to this poor excuse of a oneshot:D it is my take on the story told by the Great Deku Tree in HylianHarmony's fanfiction "The Alternate Link":) if you haven't read it, i highly recommend doing so, because that's a pretty great story you're missing!:O while in her fanfic it was a story told by one of the characters, here it is as a 'full' version of that story, that is, my interpretation:P so i have no idea how close, if at all, it is to how she saw the happenings:P**

 **and if you haven't guessed, because why would you, it is a birthday fic for this dear friend of mine:) i know it's pretty short, because there was more thinking than reading (i had so much trouble making ends meet!x0) but i really wanted to write something for her, and connected to her story, but since there's only one thing i can write about *cough*HoT*cough* this idea popped up:)**

 **anyways, hope you all enjoy it and Happy Birthday, Hylia!:)**

* * *

 _She didn't even say goodbye,_ he thought as he looked at the window she left through.

His eyes returned to the sword resting again in its pedestal. Did it mean, _it's all over?_ But... if he's here, didn't that mean that Zelda he just parted ways with was left alone in the other line of time? The time travel was confusing, but he understood some of it. He knew that even if he went back in time, what he left in the future couldn't have been just lost. It had to exist somewhere... somewhen... Now the current future was going to be different, he'd make sure of that.

He looked upon his left hand. The mark was gone. Didn't the Triforce of Courage shatter after he defeated Ganondorf? It left him for killing the owner of its brother, what blemish he brought upon the pure entity, that it couldn't tolerate to stay with its rightful bearer. Then again, it was left in the place where Zelda was, so... In case of any danger, there _was_ a chance that someone could collect the fallen pieces. Someone more appropriate of the name of the Hero. He hoped so, maybe Zelda could find someone more suitable for this role now.

He shook his head. Zelda. He was supposed to tell her, the _current_ her, of Ganondorf's plans. That was her last request of him.

* * *

Everything changed since he was here last.

Only few years had passed since they parted ways. But he now saw a woman, not a girl he once knew, but he didn't feel anything, his only sympathy lost with the flow of time. How cruel it is to mock him with its title.

He himself was different too. Not a forest boy anymore, but a battered warrior that lost too many lives, had seen the destruction of the world too many times. But he wouldn't rest. He couldn't. He needed to spend the rest of his life in a way, that he would feel himself useful.

 _He gave back the Ocarina of Time_.

"Link, I spoke with Impa. She agreed offering you the job in the knights, what do you say? We can find you a place to stay at the Castle."

He shook his head. He already had a decent house in the Town.

"Think about it, we all owe you our safety. Ganondorf isn't the threat anymore since you have uncovered his plans to us. It's only understandable that we want to repay you for what you have done. If you'll ever change your mind..."

"You do know he has been executed after you left, right? I cannot say I'm happy with the outcome, but I will not worry you with what happened. Just... There is another problem, you see. The Gerudo. The sightings of their activity have increased since the event in Arbiter's Grounds. They haven't done anything as of yet, but our truce seems illusional to me. I have a really bad feeling about the situation, I'm afraid they are planning something, so please, be on your guard."

* * *

The sounds of hooves on the hardened sand resonated through the plaza of gathered women as the horse carried its owner in front of the few rows of warriors. The young female atop addressed her companions.

"Our search has finally come to an end. What we seek lies deep within the woods on the east and takes on a form of forest spirits. Their legendary immortality is our goal. Sisters, be prepared for resistance. We leave tomorrow at dawn. Dismissed!"

* * *

Going back to his house as the sun shone from its highest position on the firmament, Link thought he heard a melody playing in the air. He looked around not seeing anyone that would produce this song, it was so... familiar! His eyes widened recognizing the tune and what it meant, he rushed to his abode. He closed the door, quickly pulling out his ocarina.

He played the few notes the friend, that gave him the instrument, taught him. He immediately heard her voice.

"Link! Can you hear me? There's- there's something bad happening at the forest. I think someone is hurting it." He breathed in at the bad news.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, don't move from the village!" He cut off the mental connection with his childhood friend and, after checking and gathering his equippment, rushed out of the door back again.

Once he was outside of the Town's walls he whistled Epona's Song as there was no time to stop and play it. Sensing her master's urgency, the beautiful chestnut mare arrived with haste. He didn't wait for her to stop as he jumped onto her and urged her towards the Zora's River. She answered with a gallop and in no time made it to the body of water. Link quickly dismounted but remembered to tell the animal to run off. She shouldn't stay near danger.

He crossed the water, not really caring about getting wet, and ran upstream along the river by land. He knew that he couldn't get in the Forest by its main entrance as whoever was attacking had to go through there. It was the only way in known by outsiders. But he, traversing the land on many different occasions and in many different manners, knew of other, secret passages. And the closest one was beside the waterfall before Zora's Domain.

He passed by the river's drop and stopped in front of the inconspicious pond in an alcove for a breather. After calming his racing heart from the run, he swallowed as much air as he could and jumped into the water-filled hole in the ground. When he reached the bottom, he kicked out with his legs to bounce off the wall and cross the tunnel that led to the Woods. Once he spotted more light in the surrounding darkness, he began to resurface.

The first thing he noticed after breaking the water's surface was an eerie silence and stillness. He knew the Lost Woods for their inner song which wind, each tree and bird sang. Now everything seemed lifeless, robbed of its brightness and mirth. The crickets weren't roaming about happily, much less the playful fairies.

He shook himself off and quickly navigated his way to the Village, knowing the short path to the water pond by heart. Even without the fairy, the Woods opened themselves for him. He emerged through the entrance to the Lost Woods to his home.

Stepping at the ledge of the slope, he noticed a group of children in the middle of the village. He made his way there jumping from lower ledges and climbing down the vines. Just before he could walk up to them, one of them noticed him calling out his name and ran up to him, immediately crushing him in a hug that could rival a goron's.

The rest of the forest children were happy to see him too, but the dire situation didn't allow them to rejoice much. Their faces were all filled with dread. Saria was the only one brave enough to tell him what was happening.

"The trees are crying! Someone is hurting them." she herself looked on the verge of crying and Link knew for a fact that she was closer to the forest than anybody. "I- I tried to stop him, but Mido left to investigate and hasn't been back yet. It was two hours ago already!" Link, instantly alarmed, looked around at them, noticing that the redhead was indeed missing. He was known for his brashness and readiness to show off, but he must have known it could be dangerous to encounter someone that deliberately hurt the forest, so why would he go?

"You all need to get out of here!" He addressed them. "Get ready for an eventual escape, I will-" Something knocked the breath out of him before he could finish. A sharp tug at his chest, but when he looked down he saw no blood. Because he wasn't hit or touched by anything. He only felt the air leave him as if his heart stopped beating for a moment.

But it didn't.

He gasped looking around only to see all of the faces sharing the same shock and disbelief and their hands gripping tightly at their tunics. It was the first time he ever felt something like this, but he realized what it meant.

 _A death of their own._

"M-Mido!" Fado started sobbing and a few of the girls followed her. They were terrified of what had happened and how could someone do this, and why, and who would ever do such a thing. It was rare for something like this to happen, but they were sure of what had. As much as they were filled with fear.

"Listen!" Link tried to break through their horrified cries. "We need to stay calm, they cannot get here that easily, so for now we are safe here. I will talk to the Great Deku Tree about this and you try to calm down, but also prepare for emergency."

"He's right!" Saria tried to help him calm their nerves as she added. "They cannot get here without a guide so we're safe. But we can't leave the village now, because they might be lurking around. Don't panic and we might be left alone. I hate to think that we lost Mido, but if no one else goes out of the village's borders his death might not be in vain."

"But Mire is missing! We need to look for her!" Remi sniffled, worried about her twin's whereabouts.

"It pains me to say this, but we cannot do anything about this. Let's pray she'll remain safe and out of the attacker's reach. But me must prepare..." Link left as Saria was speaking, rushing to the Great Deku Tree's meadow, having a really bad feeling and not wanting to waste more time. He came to a stop in front of the Sprout.

* * *

She couldn't believe herself, she overslept again!

She had fallen into a hole in the ground, a burrow, with a lot of Deku scrubs in it yesterday. And they were just so hospitable, she couldn't refuse their offer of staying longer. They played and laughed, and played till they could no more and fell asleep. And she didn't know what it was about the Lost Woods but it always made her sleep longer whenever she spent the night there. Maybe that's why they were said to be so dangerous? That you could fall asleep till the end of your days?

She smiled to herself as she took another wrong turn. She felt it easy for herself to get lost, not because she had a bad sense of direction, but because she loved to explore and always chose the opposite of the way back. Her fairy tried to talk her out of this today, saying something was strange about the forest, but she paid little attention, anticipating what she could discover today. After all, nothing could destroy such a beautifully started day, right? Unless...

She didn't know what or how, but all at once she felt her breath stolen and heart stopping. She froze in her tracks trying to discern the acute pain that overwhelmed her. It... It felt so familiar... She fell to her knees crying once she recognized it.

In all her long life she had felt it only once, way back when her and Remi's brother... She sobbed even harder curling into a ball and wailing into her knees. She didn't want to go through it again, _ever_ again! She suddenly felt so alone, despite the little sprite that tried to ease her worries, and wanted to be right back at her sister's side. She didn't want to be here anymore, the trees hauntingly looming over her, now seeming ominous and dark.

 _And the silence_...

Deciding on returning to the village while still crying, she stood up and brushed herself off. With tears obscuring her way and bile pilling up in her throat she began making her way back to the village.

And took the wrong turn.

She was startled to silence when strange hands grabbed her, her arms behind her, her mouth blocked by another pair of them as she was pushed into a direction she didn't want to go. She felt intimidated not knowing what was happening and who was holding her hostage. Fear clouded her mind as tears her eyes, so she had no idea where they led her. What if those were the people that hurt one of them, she didn't even know who?

They came to a stop in front of a woman with a fierce gaze and pursed lips which slightly tilted upward once she spotted her. Her fiery hair didn't match her freezing eyes. The girl felt only smaller under such a look and started crying anew.

"Shut it!" Shot the woman curtly. "I will say this only once. You will lead us to your village. If you don't want to end like your friend here." She waved her hand towards something a few feet from them and when Mire looked over there, she screamed with fear, anger and sorrow through a hand muffling her. There, on the ground, lied a lifeless body of the great Mido. He was covered in dried blood that obscured many wounds from view. He looked so little, so alone, so pathetic... She couldn't believe what they had done before killing him. She started trembling once she realized this awaited her too.

Surprised they let her, she found herself falling to the ground, bringing her hands to her face and crying like a little child she was. But they didn't let her finish as they pushed her up back again and made her to follow the leading woman.

She was shaking with fear. She didn't want to lead them to the village. But she didn't want to die either. The Forest was more important, but... but she felt _so scared_.

"Now, be a good little girl and do as we say."

* * *

"But you cannot stay here! Who knows what they will do once they get here!"

"I do know the gravity of the situation, Link. I'm afraid that the attacker will not stop merely at this."

"That's why I want to evacuate you all. I have a house near the Castle. You'll be under close protection of the princess. How much time do we have?"

"Not much unfortunately. It seems they caught another poor Kokiri."

"That can't be! We must tell the others!" He turned around only to halt in dread.

Several scared children's screams rang throughout the air leaving him frozen in terror. He could have prevented that. He looked between the Deku Sprout and the entrance to its meadow with hesistation. "I have to do something!" He managed more to himself than to someone else through gritted teeth, fists clenched. He turned back again to rush to the village.

"Wait!" A high young voice called out. He turned around to see a little girl sliding down the previous Great Deku Tree's form. She had twin blond ponytails tied up, short fringe, delicate face and a serious frown. "It's too late," she spoke matter-of-factly. Link couldn't believe this. "They are blocking even this path, so even if you wanted to go there, they'd halt you. They are trying to catch every Kokiri, some of them killing by chance."

"I'm afraid she's right," added the Great Deku Tree's Sprout. "I know you want to help the children, but there's literally no chance you have against them, they came here as an army. You alone won't be enough to stop what is happening. With as little time as we have, please, uproot me from here. Make haste!"

Link complied frustrated while the girl silently obeyed and the two of them started digging around the small plant. After more than five minutes, they managed to free the Sprout from the ground. All the while listening to the haunting music of children screaming or calling for help and feeling the terrible tugging at their hearts whenever another Kokiri had fallen. Link couldn't focus, guilt and self-hate eating at his conscience. He had to be there, do something about it!

"They are coming! Link, hide in my previous form. There's no time!" The Sprout hurried them, so Link carried the young tree into the first dungeon he had ever been to. The Kokiri girl followed silently.

They were relatively safe here for the Deku Tree Sprout created an illusion of the big tree's mouth closed instead of opened. There was a slight chance of discovering the hole in the mask, but they hoped the raiders wouldn't look this closely. They held their breaths as they heard muffled sounds coming from the outside.

"Search this area! See if no one is hiding there!"

"Well, there's this giant tree in the middle. Is it just me or does it have a nose?"

A few people walked around the tree, searching, but none seemed to notice the weakening forgery.

"It's clear! I think we have everyone!" the voices started to die down. Finally, for the illusion had disappeared leaving the Deku Sprout weary.

"Link, as much as it pains me to say it, you must take Agitha and me out of here. They might be back soon and I have no more strength. We must escape while we're still alive."

"I know." Link spoke with a dark look. "I will get them back after I take you to safety." He nodded towards the Sprout. "Hop on," as the girl listened, he lifted the small tree once again and secured it on his back. He stepped out of the cover and made his way to the back of the Great Deku Tree's meadow, behind its previous shell. He went into the thick barrier of trees that separated the Forest from the rest of the world.

* * *

They caught up with her just before the Lost Woods.

She went there on her own, willing to wait for everyone else by herself. She didn't mind being alone, only with her guardian fairy. On the contrary, ever since Link turned out to be a Hylian and had to leave the Forest, she _prefered_ being alone. She kept to herself, most of her time spending in the Forest Sacred Meadow. She knew there were some new Kokiri since then, but she didn't want to meet them, not to get attached. She still lived her life as a Kokiri, maybe slightly more isolated. But at a time like this, she knew the Village's safety was more important.

She just had a bad feeling, nothing more, she didn't know they would silently block every exit while she was heading there herself. She heard a slight shuffling and had little time to dodge an arrow she saw flying towards her when she turned. She was thrown off balance when the projectile lodged itself in her shoulder, but quickly regained her footing and rushed into the Woods. One of the women stayed behind to keep watch over the entrance, but the other followed her.

She managed to lose her with ease, moving quicker and knowing secret passageways better. But she was tiring, her green tunic gradually changing colour. She knew she couldn't get back to alarm or even help anyone, and, seeing the amount of her own blood on her clothing and the wound, she knew she had little time herself.

She struggled her way through the maze before the Forest Temple, Mad Scrubs strangely not present on the way. Avin, her little companion was incredibly worried about her arm held closely from pain. Exhausted, she sat on the dais in front of the structure and pulled out an empty bottle from her pouch.

"I have to do this," she whispered weakly to her fairy. The sprite nodded and entered the container, which was closed right after. Saria put the bottle inside her lantern and gripped it tightier as the pain started to overwhelm her. She knew she was dying, that's why she was going to use the little time she had for what she intended to do.

Pray.

With all her magic, she prayed. Prayed to the heavens, to the Great Deku Tree, to the Golden Goddesses, to the Forest Temple and to the previous Forest Sage so that she will be the best guardian of the Forest she could, _forever_.

When she breathed her last, it was long after all the Kokiri had been bested. Her spirit left her body, which evaporated into thin air, while her soul changed forms. It became more tangible, almost corporeal, but not exactly. It took on a form of the creature of the Forest.

She grasped her lantern and jumped into the air.

* * *

"Have they... really attacked the children?" Zelda asked again not wanting to believe what she had just heard. Link's grim face was her answer. She straightened her back thinking of what to do.

"Link," she began to catch his attention. "I will have Impa choose the best soldiers which you will lead to the Gerudo Fortress within two days time. Try to save the remaining children, but don't do anything stupid. We don't really want to make Gerudo our enemy."

* * *

"Link, listen to me. It is a bad idea."

"But what if there are still some survivors?! We cannot just abandon them! And I won't rest if those murderers won't be brought to justice! I haven't done anything then, but I can do something _now_!"

* * *

"When will he get back? It's so boring without him!" The little girl whined getting tired of yet another one-person game she played.

"I do not know, my child. We must pray for the best."

The days had passed. So did the weeks and a few months.

 _The Hero of Time never did come back_.

* * *

 **i know, this turned out a little too sad to be a birthday fic xP but really, how else could it have went since it's about the Hero of Time? i mean, his story is sad and tragic, and miserable, and pathetic... :3 that's why, it's not all! have a little bonus about my version of HH's characters!:D**

* * *

They stared at the Deku Tree for a long and silent moment.

"That sure is one tragic story," Tetra commented, not really fazed. It's not like she hadn't faced tragedies on her own.

"There's one thing i don't understand though," Link spoke thinking intently on something. "Why did the princess send him back? Didn't they love each other or something?" The Deku Tree chuckled slightly- awkwardly?

"Now, there's no reason to question their motives. And let's question who they loved-"

"But we want to know!" Kid cut in, getting interested due to the ancient being's bypassing the question. "What about the undying love between the princess and her hero? She created another timeline just because he liked her or she didn't like him? That doesn't explain her reasoning at all!"

"Alright, if you insist," the Great Deku Tree gave up. "I don't really know why she did this, but my guess would be because she didn't need him and she knew he would only bother her."

"Because he liked her, right?" Agitha asked, eyes shining at the prospect of a tragic love story.

"Well, he liked her but not exactly. He fell in love with the person she turned into during his quest to help him, and that would be the mysterious Sheikah. After she changed, he knew she was still the same person, yet somehow different. As for Zelda... Well, she loved herself. But what would you expect from a person gifted with the Triforce of Wisdom? That she would fall for anyone else, especially some savage from the forest? She was infinitely wise, she didn't need anyone, or that's what she told herself. So because she felt more knowledgeable, and later on better than everyone, she fell for herself. And that's probably why she got rid of him, not that he would cause her that much trouble..."

His audience fell silent, still processing his words. Their outlooks on the world, the hero and the princess turned by 180'.

* * *

 **Plottwist!:D Zelda only loves herself! Who would have thought!xD**

 **please, tell me i'm the only one that thought of it, because i want to be xD also, this is not what i believe in actually (though it is _really_ probable), i wrote it just for fun, and fun i had:D so i hope you found it funny as well, to lift the mood after such a chapter:P**

 **(i know i made some things up, but... can you tell what happened with Saria?:D)**

 **if you want to know who Kid is, go read HylianHarmony's fic!:D that's all from me, hope you liked it, and see you not soon at all xD**

 **and once again, Happy Birthday, Hylia!:) hope you liked it as well!:P**


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